teamferret

I've never had any problems

Looks really good especially for the money, what are you putting underneath it?

Honda RTL250, what a package

Try a washer or two under the spring which will increase the rate. Frank Pye and bod Wright are the fantic dealers.

Just looked at the Midland Classic fixture list and we are at Rhodesia on 28th April, can't be too far from you.

I've just come back from helping set up the new years day trial, should be a good one. There are 5 stream sections and the other five in the woods over rock, roots and mud/

My brother had one and it was the only bike we've known that had to be refuelled during a short course trial

I've just slipped the wheel back in and I don't think you will have any spacers on the brake plate side as it has a cast in boss on it. I know my forks may be a little different, but they are the same make and roughly the same year so can't be too different.

Fairly normal

I used a 200 front wheel for a while in my Armstrong and the torque arm was straight

There are a lot of useful bits, more so if its not the electric (SIBA) start version. Most don't have a kick start and the gear lever has no self return so the gearbox end cover has to be changed. The gear ratios are standard road but are a good starting point. The later ones have the same clutch as the 31A so is reasonable. It will have the shorter conrod but you can get 250 barrels to suit. The 11E barrel can be bored to 225 (using the 1H piston) which is useable. Loads of frames about, the James/Francis barnett is very good or the Drayton of course.

EMC were interesting in that the owner used to be the frame builder for CCM and rode his own bikes very well (at AMCA level). The Sach engined 250's were so fast that they produced a 252 version for the open class.

Wilcomoto produced one of the last all British scramblers

There is a better picture in Roy Bacons Villiers book showing the correct 'silencer' I remember my Dad trying to buy one for his DMW collection about 20 odd years ago from the factory. They let him have a later ex works bike (which was awful) but the Mk15 was promised to someone else.

Remove the outer race then you can measure up. I don't think they had taper rollers as standard but it's a useful mod. Vintage bearings are very helpful especially if you may require a slightly unusual size

This is normal

I use the standard clutch except for the basket which is banded but only because it was on my scrambler for a while. I hear what you are saying about stonebridge and smith, but they didn't have to compete against trick Bantams and they had talent

It's a 31A with a challenger top end. the clutch if fine but stiff. I tried softer springs but then i got clutch slip in the higher gears. it wouldn't be an issue, but I have a dislocated shoulder so can't develop much power with my left hand. I converted the triumph twin engine to hydraulic but technically that's against the rules. You can have a 2017 Drayton Bantam but a simple clutch mod is not allowed.

Replacing the clutch plates with the American made Barnett plates will help

I see that Villiers services are offering a yamaha clutch conversion for the villiers engine, anyone used it and can give an opinion and also which model it is off?

Will the indian made box fit?

I ran a 14 tooth primary for a long while, but it does effect the clutch as it has to handle more torque. I would go down the route of the smaller gearbox sprocket. I don't like dinner plate rear sprockets as you get a torque reaction which lifts the rear wheel. One problem I had, was only solved by going for the 4-speeder as I broke the first gear a couple of times, it's splined onto it's shaft and cracks between the spline and gear tooth then soon after breaks in two. You have to have the later cases to match the gearbox but you can use the D7 crank and outer cases to hide the fact.

The clutch cover off an aprilia climber improves the clutch action no end but they are thin on the ground nowadays. The middle box and the silencer weigh a ton. The middle can be cut open and everything inside junked and there are plenty of after market alloy silencers available. Some play with the timing of the induction rotary valve disc to try and soften the power, but I liked to put a spacer under the barrel to achieve the same.

if they are the ones with a nut in the top of the fork cap, we used to put a longer stud in and a spacer and this extended the whole fork at the expense of rigidity. If the fork bushes are in good nick they will be OK for quite a while. If they are the heavy weight version best plan is to throw the stations away and machine up some decent forks to fit in the bottoms

It's AMCA so no licence required, £10 a ride if you join the club, bring an observer and it's free!!